Eighth Post!

[hoisinsauce]

It's one thing if mankind is hunted to extinction by ChatGPT, but I really do object to being executed by Bing.

(https://secretfanspace.dreamwidth.org/2511.html?thread=3169743#cmt3169743 )

Welcome back! Fandom chat, misc creativity, internet weirdness, books, films, anything! Tell meme about it so we can get to the next post title!

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Comments

Re: Poetry - Rainy Alley (雨巷) by Dai Wangshu (戴望舒)

[(Anonymous)]

The hardest part of translating this poem was googling synonyms for 'melancholy.' I didn't know Chinese had so many ways to say 'sad, but in a romantic poet way,' and quite frankly, the English options are lacking.

Lilacs are a common motif in Chinese classical poetry, usually used for something beautiful but fragile and sad. For example, Li Shangyin penned these lines about two people in love but unable to be together:

芭蕉不展丁香结，
the banana does not unfurl; the lilac does not bloom.
同向春风各自愁。
they face the same spring wind, but hold different sorrows.

There's also some fun wordplay in this poem! When Dai describes a girl 'tangled in bitter sorrow,' he actually uses the verb 结 'knotted,' which is also the noun used for lilac buds. 'Tangled' seemed like a reasonable compromise when I wrote this, but it's certainly not accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di_W9CHt0cE
Lastly, I'd like to recommend this rendition of the poem set to music. There's a certain melody to the way the poem repeats phrases that isn't obvious unless you listen to it, and this performance, with its period-appropriate accordion accompaniment, really sets the scene beautifully.

Re: Poetry - Rainy Alley (雨巷) by Dai Wangshu (戴望舒)

[(Anonymous)]

> The hardest part of translating this poem was googling synonyms for 'melancholy.' I didn't know Chinese had so many ways to say 'sad, but in a romantic poet way,' and quite frankly, the English options are lacking.

Oh man, this annoys me so much about English. It takes words from *every other language*, and yet somehow, it NEVER has the word you're looking for. I have to coin new terms all the time.